Technology Entrepreneurship Education: Theory to Practice
The Technology Entrepreneurship Education: Theory to Practice seminars are a part of the Intel+UC Berkeley Global Entrepreneurship Education Partnership that includes the Global Entrepreneurship Leadership Symposium and the Intel+UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge. These three programs link together to build a complete program for building entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial spirit and activity throughout the world.
When Intel Corporation decided it wanted to accelerate the rate of innovation and economic growth in key markets around the world, they knew they were undertaking a significant challenge. They needed to find a high leverage means of impacting a broad spectrum of society in a focused way. Based on their previous success with technical and engineering education, Intel, the world's largest chip maker, undertook a study to find college programs and curricula in entrepreneurship which could form the basis for a new and exciting dimension to the traditional curriculum.
Intel's search led them to the Haas School's Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “[Intel] came to us and said,
'We want to transform entrepreneurship education around the globe. After researching all the best programs, we have selected yours,” said Jerry Engel, executive director of the Lester Center. “Initially, we knew this would be an important and meaningful endeavor, but frankly we had no idea how profound an impact it would have on the participants, and on us!”
The Lester Center's approach combines rich classroom education with reality based experience. In bringing this type of innovation to educational programs worldwide, Intel hopes to increase the rate of technical innovation and commercialization, thereby contributing to economic vitality and well being.
“Intel is a global enterprise, with global concerns. Based on our own entrepreneurial roots, we believe that enhancing the rate of technology innovation and commercialization globally is important. The rate of entrepreneurial innovation that we witnessed during the early days of the Internet showed us what was possible,” said Mark Harris, Intel's director of the Technology Entrepreneurship program. “We asked, 'How do we get this innovation going again?'... It became clear that Berkeley and Intel had very similar ideas around the opportunity for technical entrepreneurs.”
The Lester Center has been working with Intel for nearly a year to bring the Theory to Practice entrepreneurship training to educators worldwide. Since last August, seminars have been conducted in Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam, Gdansk, Budapest, Sofia, Mumbai, Bucharest, Istanbul, Cairo and Moscow, with others planned for Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Monterey [Mexico]. The two day sessions, each with 20 participants from leading local colleges and universities, provide a highly leveraged and efficient way of enhancing the entrepreneurship training to their respective institutions. The seminar participants have also found the sessions helpful in forming on-going collaborations among themselves and their institutions.
During the seminars, participants learn how to create unique entrepreneurship programs appropriate for their respective university. Topics include entrepreneurship teaching methods, curriculum design, how to work with real businesses, and, moreover, create an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship. These early sessions have had rave reviews.
"This course has made me think of entrepreneurship education in a new light," wrote one participant from India on the course feedback form. Another from Hungary wrote, "These two days are one of the most valuable days in my professional life."
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